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It was on
July 20, 1969 that “Eagle”, the lunar module landed on moon and American
Astronaut Neil Armstrong took “that one small step” paving way for ”a giant
leap for mankind”. Millions of people all over the world watched this event on
Television and heard about the historic flight on radio. It has been described as one of the greatest
moments in human history. The moon landing marked the pinnacle of the space
race that was going on for a decade between the two powers, the United States
and the then Soviet Union. Neil Armstrong along with Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and
Michael Collins left the moon’s orbit on 22 July and returned to Earth on 24
July. Thirty-six years afterward, the echoes of man’s first steps on the moon
can still be heard around the world.
After the initial rush of lunar programmes in the
1960s and early 1970s there was a lull in investment in the space expeditions.
But when a low-cost US spacecraft called Clementine reached lunar orbit
and mapped the moon in 1994, it reappeared on the exploration radar screen. The
craft measured the moon’s shape and aspects of its mineralogy, and conducted
radar observations that appeared to suggest tantalizing deposits of water ice
in permanently shadowed polar craters. Lunar Prospector, a NASA
spacecraft launched four years later, made detailed measurements of the moon’s
near-side gravitational field, discovered indications of hydrogen—potentially
related to water ice—in the polar regions, and found indications of new crustal
magnetic signatures.
A New Wave
Now there
is a global interest in the moon mainly because it is the scientific gateway to
understanding the formation and evolution of the inner solar system and the
early crusts of Earth and Mars. Being relatively easy to get to it could be
used by beginners as a stepping-stone to explore Mars. The moon is also being
explored for its natural resources that could prove beneficial to earthlings.
Among them is helium 3, a nonpolluting fusion fuel source. Scientists believe
there are about 1 million tons of helium 3 on the moon - enough to satisfy
Earth’s energy needs for thousands of years. Another way to supply Earth with
energy is to harvest solar power from the moon. According to scientists
harnessing just 1 percent of the moon’s solar energy could replace fossil fuel
power plants on Earth.
No wonder there is a new wave of research beginning with
several countries racing towards the moon. Many spacecraft are lined up to
arrive in lunar orbit. Europe’s SMART-1, arrived in lunar orbit last November.
It will be followed by two Japanese spacecraft, Lunar-A and Selene in
2006. In 2007-08, India will launch Chandrayaan-1, which will be closely
followed by China’s CHANG’E-1. In 2008, the US will send the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to help scout locations for human exploration.
The US is also planning a $700 million Moonrise mission which will be
launched in 2009–10.
Chandrayaan-1
Today
India is confident of undertaking a complex space mission because of its
indigenously developed launch vehicle and spacecraft capabilities. Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) is spearheading all activities in this field.
Whether India should embark on a manned mission or not is a subject of national
debate since sending a man to the moon is a very costly affair. A manned
mission would take seven to ten years to accomplish, and would cost at least
$2.2 billion. Besides, as G. Madhavan Nair, Head of ISRO, puts it, whatever a
man can do in space, it can be done with instrumentation also.
Chadrayaan-1,
India’s first unmanned mission to moon was announced on August 15, 2003. The
ambitious programme represents the country’s foray into a planetary exploration
era in the coming decades. The Chandrayan-1 mission envisages placing a 525-kg
satellite in a polar orbit 100-km above the moon and it will have a lifetime of
two years. The satellite will be launched using a modified version of India’s
indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The spacecraft will initially
be launched into Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit, and subsequently maneuvered
into its final lunar orbit using its own propulsion system. The main objectives
of Chandrayan-1 include obtaining imagery of the moon’s surface using
high-resolution remote sensing instruments in the visible, near infrared, low
and high-energy X-ray regions. International
Co-operation
Each mission has
its own objectives and emphasis though many of the instruments on these
spacecraft have similar capabilities. Despite having nationalistic lunar goals,
nearly all the space agencies are discussing collaboration through
organizations such as the International Lunar Exploration Working Group. There
are many bilateral and other negotiations going on. For example, Russia is
contributing a neutron detector to LRO. European Space Agency, ESA and
NASA are working with their Japanese counterpart. Considering the interest
expressed by the international scientific community, a provision has also been
made to accommodate instruments from other countries on Chandrayaan-1.
Recently,
ISRO signed an agreement with ESA for including European instruments on board
Chandrayaan-1. The European contribution will include a low energy (0.5-10 keV)
X-ray spectrometer called Chandrayaan Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer from
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, to measure elemental abundance distributed
over the lunar surface using X-ray fluorescence technique, a near Infra-Red
(IR) Spectrometer from Max Planck Institute of Aeronomie, Germany, to detect
and measure lunar mineral abundances, Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser from
Swedish Institute of Space Physics, developed in collaboration with India, to
measure volatiles generated due to solar wind impacting on lunar surface and
determine the surface magnetic field anomalies.
Europe
will also contribute to the Indian experiment, namely, High Energy X-ray
Spectrometer. The European instruments are to complement the main Indian
experiments. The US is also considering placing up to two instruments on Chandrayaan-1.
The lunar
gold rush is bound to produce remarkable new data sets about the moon by the
end of the decade and the world will watch
that one small step indeed turning
into a gaint leap towards the
moon. (PIB Features)
**Deputy Principal Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi
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A giant leap towards the Moon
